(CNN) -- The "father of the test tube baby," Robert G. Edwards, won the Nobel Prize for medicine on Monday, the awards committee announced.

His contributions to developing in vitro fertilization (IVF) "represent a milestone in the development of modern medicine," the committee said.

"As early as the 1950s, Edwards had the vision that IVF could be useful as a treatment for infertility," which affects about 10 percent of all couples worldwide, the commitee said.

"He worked systematically to realize his goal, discovered important principles for human fertilization, and succeeded in accomplishing fertilization of human egg cells in test tubes (or more precisely, cell culture dishes).

His efforts were finally crowned by success on 25 July, 1978, when the world's first 'test tube baby' was born," the committee said. Louise Brown, who was born in Oldham, northern England, has since married and given birth to a son, who was conceived naturally.